Yes, all these Dolby Headphone amps hiss at certain volume levels. Luckily, adding an extra amp didn't add noticeable hiss, though the Lyr's hum did ramp up overall noise. As long as the amp you use has a quiet noise floor, you won't get extra hiss.

Also certain headphones are great at hiding hiss. The Q701 is one of these. The D7000 is sensitive as hell, so the hiss is noticeable in comparison.

Things are slowly making more sense to me, so thanks to everyone whose provided answers.

Is there a consensus on which decoder is preferred? Mixamp, DSS, DSS2, Tritton, or SDUs? etc

Also, I've read about the new DSS2's, especially on Amazon, about how they are no longer 7.1 unlike the original DSSs, and how you can only change 4 channels on the new DSS2's. I really have no clue what they're talking about, since it's all just decoding done by Dolby headphone, and I doubt there's any difference between the DSS v. DSS2, as they both rely on Dolby Headphone. Am I misunderstanding the issue here? source: http://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Surround-Processor-Xbox-360-63043006306200/dp/B006W41X36

No you're correct. It was the same with the Mixamp. It was advertised as a virtual 5.1, now its advertised as virtual 7.1, even though toslink isn't even capable of doing 7.1.

I think they're marketing it as having 4 speakers because of the customizable placement of said speakers. If I remember correctly, someone here didn't care for the DSS2 compared to the AX720, so I'm not sure what to think of it. The AX720 is literally a hissier Mixamp.Edited by Mad Lust Envy - 3/17/12 at 11:04pm

I have been getting some use out of my mixamp now that I have it. I agree with people that there shipping is a joke. My free shipping order from guitar center got here faster than my $16 astro shipping. Still only paid 126 shipped for the pro mixamp and astars so not a bad deal in the end.

I am really liking my q40s amazing sub bass. Played the ME3 demo a few times just to hear the reapers. Especially when the one landed in the water and took out a ship. Playing some dead space was great too. Got fooled into thinking there was a huge beast in the next room. Turns out those long legged living finger quys let out a huge low level groan.

wheres this new games forum then?

I am trying the J$ Leather pads on my DT770 pro, they are actually rather comfy. Even if they don't look perfectly made. I love velours though, but i'll stick with these to see how they effect the sound being that they put the drivers slightly further from the ear and reflect more than absorb.

I'm gonna jerry-rig the Mixamp to my capture device, so I can record a video with Dolby Headphone. The device is shoddy at best (audio drop outs, program freezing, colors jumping at times), but I'll try.Edited by Mad Lust Envy - 3/18/12 at 10:34am

So I was able to very briefly test out Dolby Headphone through the HD PVR. I wasn't able to record, but I was able to hear Dolby Headphone through the capture screen on the PC, so it definitely works.

Anyone with a recording device can just feed a 3.5mm to RCA cable from the Mixamp's audio headphone out to the recorders RCA audio in, and Dolby Headphone will sound great off the recording device. Too bad I wasn't able to record anything though. I tried and tried, but the program keeps crashing.Edited by Mad Lust Envy - 3/18/12 at 12:38pm

So i bough an ASUS Essence STX audio card and i got the DT990 pro headphones . . now i tried to play with the settings but everything sounds kinda muddy and no helpfull sound positioning . .
So what settings do you guys use with dolby digital ? do i need to touch the sound settings on windows ? what about the game's audio settings ?

So i bough an ASUS Essence STX audio card and i got the DT990 pro headphones . . now i tried to play with the settings but everything sounds kinda muddy and no helpfull sound positioning . .
So what settings do you guys use with dolby digital ? do i need to touch the sound settings on windows ? what about the game's audio settings ?

Thanks !

Go into the Windows sound control panel and check that your speaker/headphone output is set to 5.1 or 7.1. Software-driven audio middleware in modern games looks at that setting to determine how the sound is mixed before it even hits the sound card (for the worse, I might add).

Also make sure you have Dolby Headphone enabled. Dolby Digital shouldn't even be a factor here, since the sound card drivers should be decoding such signals before outputting them, and PC games generally work with uncompressed PCM channels anyway.

I can't really help too much, though, because I don't own a Xonar or other C-Media card to mess around with.